Horoscopes are a funny thing

So, this was my horoscope for today:

So a romantic mistake was made. Why dwell on it? In the end, you may find that it wasn't actually a mistake at all -- instead, it was more of a detour that took you on a surprisingly enriching and delightful path.


??????????????????????

Of Lies and Thanksgiving

So before anyone can say anything about it, yes I was supposed to be in the Thanksgiving Parade here in Detroit. Now I am no longer going to be in the parade. The committee originally told us 10 puppets but failed to say that they wanted ONLY 10 people. What they did not realize was that the Puppets we have require more than one person to operate, so we needed more than 10 people. We were able to keep all the puppets we wanted, minus the snake that took 6 people. The sacrifice though is that we are still going to be using half the number of people. Because we had already promised kids they could be in the parade, I volunteered to be taken out of the parade so a kid could stay in it.

I will still be there to take pictures, but this year will not be my year to be nationally televised. Bummer!

My day will come, just not right now.

Howard Zinn Notes

As Promised, here are my notes from the Howard Zinn Lecture:

Leaders always have the power to manipulate the people
IF Stone
Public needs to know history- Multiple choice tests= bubble in history... they hide the real issues
Socialist
We go to war to "civilize" or "Liberate"- sounds like imperialism to me
Were building a wall to prevent the Mexicans from coming into the territory we took from them
When someone sits on 600000 Nuclear Weapons and then says that God tells him to do
something... shouldn't we worry?
Conflict between rich and poor- Gov= rich
exceptions when workers actually took action
U.S. is not #1- we have a record of violent expansion- ethnic cleansing?
Langston Hughes- Colombia
Our law is f*ed up- Habeus corpus is null and void anymore
Patriotism- support our gov... no that is totalitarianism
Govt Created of people, by the people and for the people-- therefore we have the power to
alter or abolish the government
People have to Make the Change
Government cannot continue if people fail to obey
Millions of people doing small things-- it builds up
Great question is one you cannot answer
War is a quick fix and it kills the people you think you're saving.
EVERY war is a war against children
Movements Good!!!! they change you
Working together for something you believe in, that makes life worth living

Until last night, i had forgotten what it was like to just lose yourself in the world around you. I accompanied JV Shannon to the cloud cult concert. I only just heard of them and yet there was something in their music that was just right. Had you been watching me, you would have thought that i was not enjoying myself. Quite the contrary, I loved it. There were several songs that just flooded my thoughts and opened my mind. I cant really explain it because its kind of a weird feeling, but just trust me that it was an incredible experience.

Here are lyrics to one of the songs that stuck with me:

I heard grandpa on my transistor radio,
Though he turned in his bones twenty years ago,
And he said, "Kid, theres something that I'd like to show you,
Get your things, its time for us to go"
So I grabbed my backpack, my flashlight, and a bag of caramel corn,
I got my bicycle, and the radio, and I had it on the road, I said
"I'm ready for what I'm about to see, Yup"

I headed north to rain that turned to snow
Through rusty towns and dusty gravel roads
And I said, "Grandpa, where is this thing you wanted to show me?"
He said, "Kid, you got a long way to go"
So I went through canyons, caves and catacombs, I sailed on bicycle boats
I slept in chapels and brothels, I met the nicest folks
I said, "I'm ready for what I'm about to see, Yup"

I heard grandpa on my transistor radio
He said, "Kid, its time for me to go,
And I know that there was something that I wanted to show you,
But its time for you to find it on your own."
"Let me tell you about rage when a signal died that day,
Theres nothing out there and I don't care; Its to take my life away
I'm not ready and I don't want to see, Nope"

Its been years since I heard my transistor radio
Yet I keep going to where it seems I'm meant to go
And I finally realized what he wanted to show me
Where I've been, where I am, its the show
Where I've been, where I am, its the show
Where I've been, where I am, its the show

Before and after the show, we met some really cool people, including the bassist. We all talked and chilled and then Shannon and I had to go because, alas, we had work in the morning. Stupid work.

I am starting to think about that dreaded question "what next?" Where do I want to be? what is my next step? What road will I choose? And, how will i get there?

I have a few thoughts, but i wont share them now... gotta keep you guys in suspense. How many of those, though, involve going back to Virginia Beach? to Virginia? Ideally none of them. Virginia I love you, but you're just not for me anymore.

...

Have you ever been to a barrel burning party? Until Saturday night I had not. Now I can officially cross that off of my life goals because I have now been to a barrel burning party.


what is a barrel burning party, you ask? well as I see it, this type of party involves burning wood in one of those metal trash barrels like they do at Christmas tree lots. see these friends of a friend of mine are refurbishing the rectory of an old church, and for some reason decided to have a party at this location involving burning wood in a barrel. interesting life I lead here huh?


Also that night, I went to a dance performance with my roommate and her coworker. There was some really awesome stuff and some really bad stuff. Like the sparkly red outfit this one lady wore in the last dance. What was the designer thinking? the material was ALL wrong, it was falling apart, AND they gave her black bloomers. the only reason, according to my roommate the dancer, you put black bloomers on under a red dress is if she is going to take it off and make a statement. (you ask why i talk about costumes as if i actually knew what were talking about? well matrix let me design costumes for the show, so i am therefore able to talk like i have some authority on the subject)

All of that happened on Saturday night.

Friday night was uneventful, all Anita and i did was watch a movie after we got home from working the show... and might i just say that i am glad one of my roommates was not banned from working box office for matrix. Quite possibly because she switched into teacher mode when around Elaine's daughter and her friend... which was hilarious (or so I was told).

Thursday night, after Anita picked me up from the show, we were out until 1 am. Why were we out until 1? Well, we decided to have a drink at LJs bar and then meet Tim, Paul and James (Tim's friend) out somewhere to chill... well that turned into them coming to LJ's and singing karaoke. Fun times spent with the JV boys. Yes, James is a JV boy too, only he is JV International (which I coincidentally considered for a while). In any case, can I just say, in the strictest confidence, that if I wasn't aware James was going to Nicaragua for 2 years (which is also coincidentally one of the sites I was looking at when I was looking at JVI) I would have been flirting with him. Mostly I think it was the type of people person he is, it was very attractive. Anyways, Thursday night was fun and we had bonding time with the JVs :-)

Bouncing back to Sunday for a moment (then I promise I will close this very random entry), I went with the JVs (Shannon, Josh, Paul, Tim, and James) to see Howard Zinn... He was a dynamic speaker and basically reaffirmed every reason for me being here *Note to self: posts talk notes as entry* What a fun week

SNOW?!

Since when does it snow in November? Okay so I have seen snow in November before, but it was at the end of November. Certainly not November 1, 2, and 3. Apparently it snows in November in Detroit.

Yes I realize that I am used to the relatively mild winters of Virginia where fall lingers until the beginning of January and you only get a glimpse of what might be considered winter before that. The past couple years, winter has definitely started in December with the ice and snow storms at JMU that meddled with Final Exams. I still find it interesting. Surely everyone who has ever lived in the northern part of the country away from the coast is laughing at my bafflement of the snow before December, but you know what? I'm okay with that.

A Slight Draft

I realize that the description of my blog promises adventure, and not much adventure has been written about. I apoligize.

To fulfill my promise, I must tell you this story. We have been having problems with our car window, so we had resolved not to roll the window down until it was fixed. Problem, Anita had a doctors appointment where she had to roll it down to take a ticket for parking. Damn! Window gets stuck down and refuses to go back up. In the middle of the day, I happen to stop by home to pick up shirts that i left by accident. I notice Anita there, and she tells me what happened. I run outside and tell mary to go on, that I will get a ride with anita... and i proceed to help her temporarily seal the window with a little drop cloth and packing tape. All the while we are fixing it, it is snowing... not sticking, but snowing hard enough to be an inconvenience to our efforts. We of course get it up and but as soon as we take it to the dealership, they roll it back down again...

go figure

Cast of Characters

I realize I have talked alot about my work here recently. Now that is largely a part of why I am here, but that is not the only reason I am here. I do want to foster new relationships with in the challenge of also being committed to a community life. That is a HUGE challenge for me since I do not feel like a community with Mary half of the time.

I have however made friends with people in the area. The JVs for instance live in Mexicantown. Not too far from corktown, but far enough away to be escaping a little. During the world series, I spent alot of time over their house watching the depressing games as the tigers did not come out on top. Together we also have wednesday nights at the Mercy house (which started out as project runway for all of you who remember girls nights) and on occasion Monday nights (half price Martini nights) at Proof. We helped each other come up with halloween costumes, go to movies together, and ingeneral chill out. Josh, Shannon, Tim and Paul are the ones who frequent our company. I think we all enjoy the time we get away from our individual communities, because its not that we dont love who we live with but rather we take it for what its worth and get away from time to time to not burn out.

Through Josh we have met several people he works with over at Crossroads... dont ask me what it is because i forget, but i do know that it is always interesting to hear what he does. Some of the people he works with are former volunteers, like his supervisor and then some are jsut there to fill in spare time like Bob from maine. Bob from maine is certainly less crazy than Mary, so i can therefore conclude that all people from Maine are not crazy lunitics. But then he is also closer to my age and applying to medical schools... so maybe just all old people from maine are crazy. I dont know.

One of the other volunteers in the area that came to us all through Andy and Leslie is Tyler. He is from Alabama and a Methodist Volunteer here for two years and working at the NOAH project. The NOAH project has this big soup kitchen/ lunch line that is run out of Central United Methodist Church about a block away from Comerica Park. I dont really know much more about the project or this kid than what I have just said.

In and out of town have been Nile (Anita's Boyfriend), Jessica (Pauls Girlfriend), guy who is pauls friend, and a plethora of other cameo appearences from friends of the volunteers.

Andy and Leslie are former volunteers who are now married. They live in the cutest loft off of michigan and are probably one of the cutest couples in the world... almost as cute as mary and mike rodihan. Leslie is a former mercy and Andy a former JV, they met in their year of service (which i happened to visit during), fell in love and were recently married. How adorable. But after Anita found out that Leslie went to my school, she now jokes that I will Marry a Jesuite Volunteer... no offense to any of them but its not likely.

From my Left hand

So in an effort to make myself fully ambidextrous I take free time to just basically write with my left hand in a stream of conscious style. Here are some results:

Here in Detroit is where i now live. I miss Virginia but not enough to go back. I am trying to teach myself to write with my left hand and to teach myself Gaelic. It was sad when the tigers lost the world series, but they are a young team and there is always next year. Mary is getting aggravating. Monday Anita and I went to a bar with Josh, Shannon, and Paul to meet up with some of the people Josh works with. They are fun and I had a long talk with one named Bob. Yesterday was Halloween and I got stuck in a Laundromat like corduroy the bear. Anita and I are not speaking to Mary right now. she said she was not willing to compromise so we walked out of the room and spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what went wrong.


And there you have it, a story worthy of a first grader.